The United States:
Scenic Beauty
Page 2
These pages are a collection of photographs taken around the world. As time goes on, they will be included in country-specific portfolios. They are grouped by country and region. This page covers some beautiful places in the US west.
Note: These scans are more than ten years old and will eventually be replaced.
-- Eric Trachtenberg
The United States: Scenic Beauty
Monument Valley, near the corner of four states (Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado), is most famous for its backdrop role in American westerns. It is also a beautiful area that is under the control of Navajos who have many beautiful crafts for sale (along with tourist kitch).
The down side of this trip is that you're offered the choice to destroy (or at least hurt) your car driving around the buttes or taking a very expensive jeep tour. Despite the bad travel options, this is an overwhelming place to drive.
The stones stand like silent guardians.
This road on the Utah/Arizona border was on the most unique I have ever seen. At first about 100 miles/160 km back in Utah you see a sign saying "Steep Curves Ahead. Do not attempt with a Truck of Trailer!". That sounded like an invitation. After a long flat drive through pine forests (and no turnoffs), I arrived at what looked like a cliff at the end of the world. The good sealed flat road become a 10 foot/3m wide dirt strip winding down the face of a mesa -- giving a whole new meaning to the phrase "Hairpin turns! After 20 minutes of SLOWLY driving down (and stopping to let other cars by) and found myself on the desert floor. The road straightened out and went on like nothing happened!
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Pictures: Eric Trachtenberg
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